500.C1197/618
The Secretary of State to the Secretary General of the League of Nations (Avenol)1
The Secretary of State of the United States of America submits the following observations in response to the note of the Secretary General of the League of Nations, dated August 29, 1933 (No. C. L. 159.1933. XI.),2 transmitting a draft Convention for the Suppression of the Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs3 and an explanatory memorandum4 which were submitted to the Council of the League of Nations by the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs. The Secretary General requests the Government of the United States to inform him of its views in regard to the preliminary draft Convention.
The draft Convention under reference appears to be substantially similar to the draft Treaty embodied in League of Nations document No. O.C. 1369, dated January 30, 1931. The principal provisions of that draft were considered by the Government of the United States in response to specific inquiries incorporated in League of Nations document No. O.C. 1392, dated July 11, 1931, and transmitted to this Government by the Opium Traffic and Social Questions Sections of the League of Nations with a request for its views.
In response to that request, the views of this Government were embodied in a memorandum which was sent, under date of February 23, 1932, to the American Legation at Bern,2 for transmission to the Opium Traffic and Social Questions Sections of the League of Nations. The views thus communicated may be summarized briefly as follows:
- 1.
- The acts proposed to be made offenses by the draft Treaty are already prohibited and punishable under the laws of the United States.
- 2.
- With respect to attempts to commit the offenses contemplated by the draft treaty, the Government of the United States has not considered it necessary or desirable to punish attempts as such unless attempts grow out of a conspiracy to violate the law.
- 3.
- Subject to the statements contained in the preceding paragraph, this Government considers that all the offenses contemplated by the draft treaty could be treated as extraditable.
- 4.
- With respect to the provisions of the draft treaty relating to international cooperation for suppression of the illicit traffic in narcotic drugs, the Government of the United States is of the opinion that the existing arrangements for international cooperation, if given full effect by all the countries concerned, would ensure adequate cooperation.
- 5.
- In the opinion of this Government, the provisions of existing treaties for the suppression of illicit activities connected with the traffic in narcotic drugs, if given proper effect by all the interested Governments, are adequate to accomplish the purpose of the treaties, and this Government would not, therefore, feel disposed to participate in the proposed convention.
The draft treaty to which the foregoing observations relate did not provide for prosecution in one country for offenses committed in another country or countries, and accordingly no inquiry on that point was included in the questions propounded in League of Nations document No. O. C. 1392. However, the second paragraph of Article 1 of the draft treaty which accompanied the note of August 29, 1933, of the Secretary General of the League of Nations (League document No. O.C. 1369 (c)–1) provides expressly that the offenses mentioned in the first paragraph of Article 1 “shall be punishable even when the various acts forming the elements which constitute the said offenses have been committed in different countries”. In view of this provision, it is deemed appropriate to refer to the note of July 27, 1932, from the Acting Secretary General of the League of Nations (No. C. L. 105. 1932.XI), requesting that consideration be given to the possibility of making it an offense against the United States for a person within its jurisdiction to procure or take part, as an intermediary or otherwise, in procuring dangerous drugs to be supplied to any other country without due authorization. The reply of this Government to the note above mentioned was sent to the American Legation at Bern, under date of March 23, 1933,6 for transmission to the Secretary General of the League of Nations and sets forth in some detail the practically insuperable difficulties which would be encountered in attempting to prosecute American citizens for the unauthorized procurement and supply of narcotic drugs outside the United States and impel the conclusion that it would not be feasible to provide for the prosecution of such cases in the United States.
[Page 745]While the Government of the United States is, of course, favorable to any action which would be likely to render more effective the international effort to suppress the abuse of narcotic drugs, it believes that the desired result would be accomplished if the Governments of all of the nations which are parties to the existing treaties would give full effect to the purpose and provisions of those treaties.
The American Government, therefore, sees no reason to change the view expressed in previous communications to the Secretariat of the League of Nations to the effect that the Government of the United States would not feel disposed to participate in the proposed convention.